13 Posts You’ll Totally Love If People Are Always Telling You To Smile

A few days ago, I was walking into my favorite place on earth–Trader Joe’s, obviously–when a guy standing outside of the store motioned for me to stop. I assumed that he had something important to tell me–like he knew of a TJ’s somewhere that had a much shorter line, perhaps, or that he was hemorrhaging internally and needed me to call an ambulance. All he said, however, was, “Has anyone ever told you that you should smile more?”

I ignored him, considering, after all, that I had marcona almonds and speculoos cookie butter to buy. The thing is, though, I have been told that I should “smile more” and “brighten up” and “cheer up.” Like, many, many times in my relatively young life. I’m not the only one who’s experienced this–women being told to smile by random people (who are almost always men) is not a new issue. It is, as as far as catcalling goes, fairly innocuous, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly irritating, or symptomatic of a larger issue in which women’s behavior is viewed as a viable object for men to police. If you, too, have ever been told that you should smile more, you’ll love these posts. They might make you smile, but don’t worry–you don’t have to: